Safety speed-control apparatus for motors.



s. H. ECKMANN-& JJWAGNER.

I SAFETY SPEED CONTROL APPARATUS FOR MOTORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, 1912.

30 x H g v WITNESSES: 4 [WE T R5 BY v ATTORNEY s r m "-1 SIEGMUNID HANS ECKTIIANN AND JAMES WAGNER,

or MANCHESTER, ENG-LAND,

ASSIGNOR-S T0 WESTIN'GHQUSE ELECTRIC AND IIXANUFACTURING GOIVIPANY,

CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFETY SPEEDCONTROL APPARATUS 390B MIOTORS.

masses,

To all 7mm it may concern Be it known that we, SIEGMUND Hans EGKMANN and JAMES Washes, subjects of the Emperor of Germany, and residents of Manchester, England, in the county of Lan caster, have invented a new and useful lmprovement in Safety Speed-Control Apparatus for Motors, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to safety speed-control. apparatus for motors used for driving reciprocating devices such, for instance, as winding motors for mining hoists and, although not limited in this respect, the invention will, for the sake of coi'ivenience, he

\ described in connection with a motor used separately excited generator is for this purpose. Except in in which automatic systems of control are employed, the safe operation of winding motors for hoists depends, to a great extent, upon the attention of the motorlnan. For example, should the motorinan permit the motor to operate too rapidly or neglect to cut off the power and apply the brakes at certain pre determined position of the cage, it might he impossible for him to bring the c to rest s against the kinetic energy of the moving masses. It is therefore of the utmost importance to keep the distance through which the hoist is operated at full speed within certain limits and to reduce the speed. to certain predetermined values at certain distances from the place at which. the cage is to be brought to rest.

The present invention has for its object to provide improved apparatus for auto-- matically cutting oil the supply of power from, and applying the brakes to, the motor in case the speed of the cage, or other similar device, exceeds that previously determined upon for any particular position.

According. to the present invention, a provir ed which is driven so that its speed varies directly in accordance with the speed of the cage or other similar device. The excitation of the generator is varied in an inverse sense to the predetermined variations in speed of the cage, so that, should the speed of the speed, the elcctromotive force of the generlatter exceed,-at any time, the predetermined ator'will increase, said increase in the electromotive force of thegenerator being utiv lized to cause the supply of power to he cut Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 11,1915.

,epplication filed may 11, 1912. Serial No, 696,?67.

off from, and the brakes applied to, the motor to check the speed of the latter.

ln order that the nature of the invention may be clearly understood, one embodiment thereof, as applied to the control. of an electric mot-or operating a mining hoist, will now be descrihed. by way of'example, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a diagram of the mechanism and circuits.

The winding motor 1, here shown as an alternating current motor, is indicated as driving a winding drum 2. A small direct current generator 3 has its armature 1 directly coupled to the winding drum 2 with the result that itszspeed will correspond to that of the age of the- .hois ',which' is, of course, raised or loweredhby rotating the winding drum 2. The field winding 5 of the direct current generator 3 is excited from source of constant voltage which, in the present instance, is an exciter 6 driven by a motor 7 that is connected'to the supply mains 8, 9, 10 of a three-phase source. One terminal. of the field winding 5 is connected to one brush 27 of the exciter 6 and its other terminal is connected to one'terniinal of a variable resistor 11. The ends and intermediate points of the resistor 11 are connected to the stationary contact terminals of a. switch. 12, the movable contact arm 13 of which. is adapted to be driven from the depth indicator 28 by means of aband 14:. The other brush 15 of the exciter 6 is connected to a contact member 16 ofthe switch 12 with which the arm 13 continuously inalfescontact.

The safety device, which is a common feature of electrically operated mining hoists, is indicated diagrammaticallyat l7 and is adapted, when released, to apply' the emergency hrake'QQ and open the circuit'breaker 30 that controls the supply of current to the motor 1. The safety device 1'? is normally maintained out of operation a releasing device, here shown as a two-armed lever 18 pivoted to some fixed part, one arm 19 of which engages and holds the safety device in its 0s position, so long as current flows in a solenoid 20 the moyalole core 21 of which is attached to the other arm 22 and is provided with a weight 23. The solenoid 20 may be supplied with current from any convenient source, such as the mains 9 10 of the suppl circuit, and, so long current flows in t is solenoid, the core will be lifted a ainst the action of the weight 23 and hel in the position shown in the draw ing, in whichthe arm 19 engages the safety device 17 and maintains it out of operation.

A switch 24 for making and breaking the circuit of thesolenoid is adatped to be operated by .the movable core 25 of a solenoid 26, the terminals of which are connected to the brushes of the direct current generator 3. Normally, the movable core member 25 of the solenoid 26 occupies its lowermost position, as shown in the drawing, in which the switch 24 is closed and the circuit of the solenoid 20 completed. The core 25 will occupy the position just stated so long as the voltage produced by the generator 3 does not rise above a predetermined value,

but, should such a risein voltage occur, the core 25 will be lifted and the switch 24 operated to open the circuit of the solenoid 20.

The various speeds which the cage of a mining hoist should properly have at certain positions of its travel are usually predetermined and shown on a speed diagram. The amount of the resistor 11 in circuit with the field Winding 5 of the generator 3 is varied by the switch 12 in such manner that the excitation of the generator 3 will vary in an inverse sense to the pro-arranged speeds of the-cage. In the particular arrangement described herein, the arm 13 of theswitch 12, which is driven from the depth indicator 28, is arranged to make one complete revolution during the travel of the,

cage between its extreme limits in either direction. I

The generator 3 is designed to have a* straight line characteristic, and the various contact terminals of the switch 12 and the intermediate points of the resistor connected thereto are so arranged and determined that, as the movable arm 13 travels over them, the resistance in circuit with the field winding 5 will be varied to such an extent as is necessary to maintain the voltage of the generator 3 constant, provided the speed of the armature 4: corresponds to the pre-ar rangedspeed of the cage. As thearmature 4c is driven directly from the winding drum 2, this willoccur so long as the cage maintains its pie-arranged speeds. In case the speed of the cage exceeds that which is pre- 19 to release the safety device 17, with the result that the emergency brake 29 will be applied and the supply of current to the motor 1 cut off.

The position of the movable arm 13 shown in the drawin is that which it occupies when the cage is'at rest, either at the top or the bottom of the hoist. In this position of the arm, all of the resistor 11 is cut out of circuit with the'field winding 5, this circuit being then as follows: from the brush 27 of the exciterti through the field winding 5, the arm 13 and the contact'member 16 to the other brush 15 of the exciter. As the cage rises and its speed increases, the arm, driven by the depth indicator and rotating in a counter clockwise direction, is moved over the lower set of contact terminals 31 of the switch 12 to successively include portions of the resistor 11 in circuit with the field wind- 35 ing As soon as the cage has reached that position at which its maximum speed should occur, the arm 13 will engage the outer circumferential contact terminal and the whole of the resistor ll will be .in circuit with the field windin g 5. With the maximum speed of the cage, it will thus be seen that all of the resistor 11 is in circuit with the field winding and the excitation of the generator 3 is therefore reduced suliiciently to prevent the voltage of its armature from rising above the predetermined value.

As the cage approaches the upper limit of its travel, the arm 13, still rotating in a counter clockwise direction, will'travel in succession over the upper set 33 of contact terminals and gradually cut out the resistor 11. The strength of the field of the generator 3 will therefore be correspondingly increased as the cage nears the upper limit of its travel, where its speed should fall, in accordance with that-indicated on the speed diagram, and the voltage supplied to the terminals of the solenoid 26 will be maintainedsubstantially constant, notwithstanding the decrease in speed of the armature 4 which should occur.

Of course it will be understood that, in case the winding drum is operated by a steam engine, the safety device will operate to cut oil the supply of steam instead of opening the circuit breaker, as described above, the emergency brake being, however, automatically applied in either case, thereby chccking the speed of the motor.

The speed cor trol apparatus of this invention may hes .so adapted to operate when the cage is being lowered and the winding motor is delivering a braking current or is operating regenerativcly, in case the speed 5 of the cage, at any position, should exceed that predetermined upon for such position by a certain amount.

We claim as our invention:

1. The combination with a motor for mined normal speeds driving a reciprocatin load at predetert at very in accordance with the position of said lead, of a safety control apparatus comprising an electric generator the speed of which corresponds to that of the reciprocating load and the excitation of which is varied inversely as the predetermined normal speeds of the reciprocating load vary, whereby an excesslve speed of the load efiects an increase in the electromotive force of said generator to cut oil" the supply of power and apply a brake to the motor.

2. The combination with amotor for driving a load at a plurality of predetermined normal speedsand an electric generator driven at speeds corresponding to those of said load, an electromagnetically controlled safetydevice governed b said generator-and means for varying tile field excitation of said generator inversely with the predetermined normal speeds of the load.

3. The combination with a motor for driving a load in each of two directions at predetermined varying speeds for accelerating and retarding the same and at a substantially uniform speed relatively high between acceleration and retardation periods, of an electromagnetically controlled safety device, an electric generator geared or coupled to said load and providing the current for the controlling circuit of said safety device, an exciter for the field magnet of said generator and e rheostat for automatically varying the current in the exciter circuit in accordance with the predetermined speeds of the load,

4. The combination with a-hoist drug:i and an electric generator coupled or gear together, of a motor for normally driving said drum and generator at certain prede termined speeds, a safety device adapted to be governed by electrical energy supplied by said generator, an exciter for said generator and a rheostat for the exciter circuit that is automatically operated to compensate for the varying speed of the generator under normal operating conditions.

5. The combination with a motor for normally driving a reciprocating load at different predetermined speeds, and a generator driven at correspondi speeds, of a safety device that is governe by electrical energy from said generator, a constant speed exciter and a rheostat for the excite! circuit that is automatically operated to com ensate for the normal varying speedsof t e generator.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names this 22nd day of April,

SIEGMUND HANS ECKMANN. JAMES WAGNER.

Witnesses:

JAB. STEWART Bnonnroorr, H. R. Knsorr. 

